Day 365 - December 31

Here we are.  Day #365.  This year is ending right where it began - on 34th street in Hamden.  The bright orb you see is a street light, but if you look a little to the left and a little down, that's the mini ball that drops. 

2010 was a decent year - definitely better than 2009, but I'm hoping 2011 is even better.

Best part of 2010 was finally finding a house!  We also enjoyed the vacations - California, Boston, and Arizona.  We didn't see my mother as many times this year - she stayed in AZ for more time.  She was still here for Easter, her dr's appt's in the fall, and a wedding in the fall though. :) We survived a couple blizzards, although they were made easier by not being homeowners at the time.  We said goodbye to Sneakers which was sad, but attended several weddings that were happy! I went to my first roller derby bout and joined a book club to meet people near our new house.  We bought a grownup dining room table and learned how to install a garage door opener.  I had some seriously crazy medical tests done at the beginning and end of the year, but there's still technically nothing wrong with me!  While we did go to professional sporting events this year, somehow in the calendar year of 2010 we did not see a Ravens or Orioles game in person.  We ate some great meals, mostly on vacation, and took some great pictures that we still need to get around to putting up in the house.  And one of these days we'll completely unpack the boxes in the back bedroom....but hey, we have to leave something for 2011. :)

Day 364 - December 30

We're flying home today ... it's pretty overcast in Houston.  One more takeoff, one more landing, and then we are home!

Day 363 - December 29

Here's something you don't see everyday in the desert - a rain storm!  (Unless you're us - then you see it fairly regularly because Christmas week appears to be rainy week around here.)  It was really coming down.  What is more interesting about this picture is that it was taken at 5 pm.  Even with the storm, it was this light out!  Once it started getting dark though, it was REALLY dark REALLY quickly.  This is my parents' back yard ... quite the oasis.  Someday we'll be there and be able to go swimming.

Day 362 - December 28

To get out of the house today, we went to Rocks & Ropes in Tucson.  The boys and my mom all did some climbing while my dad & I watched.  I tried it on a cruise ship a few years ago and only got to the 3rd rock - so I didn't see the point in paying for the torture.  It was fun to watch them do it though!

Day 361 - December 27

Before I knew I had the perfect gift for my Mom for Christmas, I had done some creative thinking about what to get.  I found a place online that makes custom photo jigsaw puzzles.  Note to self - when making a puzzle next time, pick a picture that is not 70% snow and sky and 20% rock!  We spent quite some time on it today, and this is as far as we got.

Day 360 - December 26

Since we're 2 hours behind east coast time, football starts at 11am here.  We found a bar that serves brunch and has Sunday ticket so that we could watch the Ravens game.  It gave me a chance to wear my new Flacco jersey! :)

Day 359 - December 25

Merry Christmas!!

It has been a LONG 24 hours.  We celebrated with his family last night, closed our eyes for a few minutes and then flew to Arizona this morning.  Somehow while we were traveling, morning turned to afternoon and then evening so here we are in the dark.  We had dinner and then played this year's Christmas present game - "Minute To Win It Christmas Edition."  We picked up candy canes using chopsticks and ribbons, shook jingle bells out of a tissue box on our back, put bags of Hershey kisses in order by weight without looking inside, and tried to swing red pom poms to our nose but that one didn't work. 

My mother was very surprised with her special present - it was a toy train that she thought got lost in the moves but it was safe in my Aunt & Uncle's garage the whole time. 

The picture is of a small neighborhood in my mother's Christmas house village.  This is "Ralphie's neighborhood" from A Christmas Story.  (Not pictured, the department store with the scary Santa & slide.) The mini leg lamp was one of my best Christmas present finds ever, back in college I think, just before the movie got super big.  We set it up in the window for her while she was out one night.  Now it's the centerpiece of Christmas village.

Day 358 - December 24

I honestly had no idea what I was getting for Christmas from my husband this year.  The short list was a piano for the new Rock Band or maybe Memphis tickets because I've been strongly hinting at how badly I want to see that show for more than a year now.  So imagine my shock and surprise when I unwrapped an iPad this morning!  I have thought these were awesome since day 1, but since it totally fell into the "want" rather than the "need," I never gave serious thought to purchasing one.  But now I have one, and boy is it cool. :)

Day 357 - December 23

Dunno what all those numbers mean, but they're mine! :)

The test itself was less annoying than the prep.  I was asleep thanks to a lovely dose of (properly administered) Propfol.  (My doctors > M.J.'s doctors) ;)  Mike confiscated my phone so that I couldn't "Drunk Dial" my mom & Sarah like after my bladder procedure earlier in the year.  He didn't have to worry though - that stuff wore off much quicker and didn't make me sick.  Woohoo!  Good news is that there's nothing wrong with me!!  Bad news is that we still don't know what is causing the pain.  But hey, I ruled out a bunch of stuff that I didn't want to have, so that is good. :)

I liked the Doc, the anesteologist, and one of the nurses.  Everyone else there was very much in the mentality of assembly line.  2 different people - a receptionist & the nurse who did my IV had conversations with me without making eye contact.  The receptionist was talking to the other receptionists about who was bringing cookies & coffee.  Both times she needed me to sign something she swiveled around in her chair, said something quick and curt, "This is the HIPA paper. Sign here." (Point) and then go back to talking to the other girls.  I jokingly told Mike that I hoped I had the right procedure done because I honestly don't think she looked at me once.  She didn't ask for ID or my insurance card and instead used a photocopy from my office visit (at a different location) a month ago.  Granted, who is going to show up and request this test for fun?  But still.

Then the IV nurse was chit chatting with the laundry delivery guys and with her face toward THEM pointed at my medication sheet and said "this is where he'll write what he'll want you to take, this is where he'll write what meds he wants you to stop." 

Thankfully, then another nurse showed up.  I did hear nurse nasty dealing with other patients the same way...just not cool.  I am well versed in the medical care available in this town and today's office failed my test.

Luckily I don't have to go back for 19 years. ;)

Day 356 - December 22

On the first day of Christmas, my vacation brought to me ....

a gallon of some horrid tasting stuff called Golytely.  In the quest to find out the cause of my abdominal pain that has been coming and going for the last 13 months, I gave in and went to a GI doc.  I've been making the rounds of all the docs that treat body parts in the abdomen, but left the GI guy til last.  As I suspected, he spent 30 seconds with me before prescribing "the test." 

I was a little annoyed because he didn't even touch me at my initial appointment.  We sat in chairs, he read my paperwork, and said he wanted to do the test.  If there is anything I've learned in the past year, it's that most doctors are quick to jump to testing.  Are they scared of getting sued if they don't find something?  I just feel like he could have at least tapped on my stomach or something before sending me down this path.  My urologist was quick to put me through some lousy invasive tests too.

Getting the stuff down was hard.  The original prescription was a smaller amt of liquid, but I realized last night that it had nutrasweet/aspartame as a sweetening ingredient.  The dr on the overnight number didn't know which prep to tell me to take, and told me to do some research and figure it out and talk to the pharmacist in the morning.  Luckily, my awesome pharmacist recently made that serendipitious re-entry into my life, and he figured out a backup plan!  The result was a whole lot of liquid.  You have to drink this stuff that pretty much tastes like ocean water...8 ounces every 10 minutes for almost 3 hours.  Wow.  Even if you LIKE the taste of something, that's a lot of liquid!

Day 355 - December 21

The rest of the world woke up hours ago to see the eclipse.  I'm here to show you what the moon looks like at 6:45am.  I hope you enjoyed your middle of the night viewing, but I personally think this 6:45am moon is even too much to handle!

Day 354 - December 20

When I moved to my townhouse, I transferred my prescriptions to my local pharmacy.  It was a good move, because everyone who worked at that pharmacy was awesome.  The techs and especially the pharmacist.  They would solve problems for me all the time.  When you have 5 or 6 doctors that prescribe you stuff, it seems that they often wind up with tunnel vision.  Every doctor thinks their body part or system trumps all the others.  The pharmacist is the only one who knows everything that is going on.  Right around when we got married, my pharmacist and the tech left.  I was left with a couple guys who acted like it was effort to get up in the morning, let alone actually help me.  They were very frustrating.  Luckily, I haven't been taking nearly as many meds lately.  When I need the occasional thing, I get them at the Rite Aid that is close by.

So today, there was a little car accident near our park & ride.  After I got in my car, I had to go a slightly different way home to avoid the police activity.  Since I was passing the other grocery store (the one I don't go to very often), I decided to stop in for some gatorade because we're low & it's on sale there this week.  While I was paying for it, I noticed a guy waving at me.  It was my old awesome pharmacist!  He even remembered my name!  He works at the pharmacy in the grocery store! I do need some scripts filled this week because I'm having a colonoscopy on Thursday (I know, lucky me!) so I ran right home to get them. 

I'm way more excited about this than I should be, but a good pharmacist is hard to find.

Day 353 - December 19

Today was our annual Winter Wonderland party at Max's.  Since the shindig started at 3, one of our friends came up with the idea to go early.  That way, the boys wouldn't miss any of the Ravens game.  Usually I drink water when I go out, but since I was taking up a seat at the bar for a couple hours during prime time, I upgraded to Sprite.  I was surprised to receive this GIGANTIC cup of soda.  I have no idea how many ounces of soda I drank because he kept refilling it before it got all the way to the bottom.  I am seriously feeling the sugar low now!  (The junk food at the party probably didn't help.) :)

Day 352 - December 18

We drove to NJ to see my relatives today.  While we were there, we took some of Andy's music stuff that has been stored at their house for 2.5 years.  Anyone wanna start a band? :)

Day 351 - December 17

My car got covered in snow yesterday since it happened while we were at work.  I drove home and put the car in the garage ... that was more than 12 hours ago, and there is STILL snow on the roof of my car.  That's how cold it is!!!

Day 350 - December 16

We had a little more than an inch of snow today.  It was the worst right around dismissal time, so the kids got home really late.  I shoveled the driveway just so that it didn't turn into a chunk of ice over night.  The huge amount of cracks in the driveway made shoveling difficult.  Since there's just an inch out there, I was just going to push the snow out onto the grass.  But the cracks make the driveway uneven so every 18 inches I was hitting a bump and couldn't continue to scrape.  The driveway is on our list of "fix this when you have some extra money laying around..."  It'll probably be on that list for awhile. :)  Now we just cross our fingers for a delay tomorrow!!!!! :)

Day 349 - December 15

All set up for book club ... just waiting for people to arrive!

For food, I decided to make:
The crescent roll/brie thing with crackers and apples
The sausage/cheese/crescent roll thing (also stolen from Danielle) ;)
Chips & salsa
cake pops
cookies
sweet & sour meatballs
wine
soda

Day 348 - December 14

Our first real surprise dusting!  It came down between 5:30am and 7am because there were no tire marks for Mike's car coming out of the driveway.  Just enough to be pretty without being a pain!

Day 347 - December 13

I will never be Bakerella.  We worked really really hard trying to make them into reindeer cake pops.  Almost an hour later with 2 semi decent ones and 4 bad ones, we decided the rest would just be Christmas sprinkle covered cake pops.  She makes it look so easy!!!!!!!

Day 346 - December 12

For today's picture - a collage. :)  I cheated!  This is our 2010 class of Christmas Ornaments.  We didn't have a tree in 2009, so these include the ornaments we've gotten since that time. 

From the top left - Snowman Mickey from our trip to Orlando in spring 2009, Boston's Freedom Trail to commemorate the miles and miles of urban hiking in Boston this fall, The space needle was a gift from my parents. 

2nd Row- Crab and sand inside a glass ball made at crafting club, blue and white hand blown ornament that I made with my very own breath during Christmas vacation in 2008, the "Our New Home" ornament Mike got me for my birthday this year

3rd row - Hershey Kiss from Chocolate World/Hershey Spa for Sarah's 30th birthday trip, Christmas tree from the White House was a gift, Santa with secret service reindeer from the Spy Museum earlier this year

4th row - Mickey Ears from Disneyland summer of 2010, gingerbread people from my carpool mate for our first married Christmas

Bottom - bird from Mike's crib mobile when he was little (Doesn't it look like the twitter bird?!?) and a Billy Elliot boxing glove from the spring of 2009.

Not pictured: an elephant from the San Diego zoo summer of 2010, a glass "Our first Christmas" ornament we got as a gift,  and a Hawaiian doll from our Hawaii trip in 2009.  I forgot to take a picture of the SD & glass ones and I can't find the Hawaii one ANYWHERE.

Day 345 - December 11

Today after Mike left for his friend's house, I made 3 more sets to go with the card packs.  They are all birthday cards, but different styles.  I must admit, I did not design any of these but rather borrowed designs from Splitcoast.  I like them all for different reasons in different ways.  I did get to use my new embossing folder on the bottom one and my top note die on the top right one, so it's good to see what they can do.  I wish the texture showed up with the bottom card, because it's the neat part about it.  Oh well, such is the life of an iphone picture. :)

Day 344 - December 10

I stayed home sick today.  I don't do that very often, because it's really much harder to be out sick when you're a teacher than it is to muscle through it ... but I just couldn't.  I did a lot of sleeping today, and when I wasn't sleeping, I was watching Dexter.  The finale is on this week and I really didn't want to be spoiled!  I'm almost caught up with just a few episodes to watch tomorrow. 

I wish the guy that plays Dexter would do a nice romantic comedy movie or something so that I could get the serial killer thing out of my mind!  It's such a good show, though, even with the dark and creepy factor.

Day 343 - December 9

I came home from work today and collapsed on the couch.  I didn't have time or energy to be creative, so you're getting a glimpse at the second half of the snowmen of the year collection.  Starting from the left, we have patriotic 4th of July, a swimming snowman for August, Back to school September, Halloween October, Thanksgiving November, and Christmas December.  No surprises in the latter half of the year!

Day 342 - December 8

For Christmas this year, I'm making packs of cards for some people.  I'm trying to make a variety of cards that people may need in a year.  I started with a birthday, get well, and sympathy.  I am making 6 sets that match, but I'm dealing with random papers and colors in my stash and slowly using up now-retired colors which is making it difficult to find good matches and color families.  I actually really like this teal color in the top right, but I just recently discovered it and it's retired from SU now.  Too bad, because it was a cool color!  I got 3 sets of 6 done tonight ... just 7 more to go.  Unless I decide to stop at 8 cards a person, which may happen depending on time and materials.

Day 341 - December 7

Tonight's baking was 10 dozen-ish pieces of Kahlua fudge.  Yummy!  This is by far my favorite thing we make.

Day 340 - December 6

We started the baking process tonight.  We made 4 dozen peanut butter chocolate clusters and then 4 dozen regular chocolate chip cookies.  That seems like so much, but when you compare it to how many we need - it's nothing!

Day 339 - December 5

It has snowed on December 5th for many, many, many years lately.  I believe the newspaper said 9 of the last 10?  We got just about 12 flurries today, but as someone posted on my FB page, "snow is snow."  You can see the flurries beginning to accumulate on the lip of the grill cover this morning, but as soon as the sun came over the house they disappeared.  We recently moved our grill to this mid-deck location so that it'd be closer to the light and the door.  We can't grill here in the summer because of the leafy tree, but since the tree is sticks and the weather is cold, it came close for the winter.  It was much easier to grill the burgers on Friday with it's new location!

Day 338 - December 4

I have been admiring the "Top Note" die from Stampin Up for quite some time now - pretty much since they started making it.  Now that I have a die cut machine, I figured I'd splurge and get it.  It's so multi-functional!  When I searched "top note" on Split Coast, I found this guy along with a ton of others.  I had to change some things around - for example, the model used an oval for the arms and beak and I used the curly label punch, but I had to go with what I owned.  It's supposed to look like he's handing you the ornament but I'm a little concerned that he looks like he's wearing it around his neck.  I think it gets the idea across though!

Day 337 - December 3

As seen in Royal Farms while waiting in line to get a coffee this morning.  I rarely stop, but it was cold and I had to get gas anyway, and my carpool-mate was running late.  All of those things led to getting out of the car and going in to get a coffee.  Seeing this fudge with this caption made me giggle. :)  My mother loves this movie, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't love fudge so it stayed right there on the overpriced Christmas stuff shelf!

Day 336 - December 2

Several years ago, I got this "Snowman of the Month" set.  I like to decorate with snowmen because I can leave them up for more than 3 weeks.  Here's the first half of the year.  New Years, Cupid, Easter Bunny for March, a raincoat and umbrella for April, a Mom for Mother's Day in May and a golf playing Dad for Father's Day in June.  I haven't had them on display for awhile because I didn't know where to put them.  Mike was intelligent enough to realize that they'd fit nicely on top of the piano.  If you're lucky, I'll remember to take a picture of the second half of the year at some point....

Day 335 - December 1

I have previously shared how quickly water can seep into my classroom.  Today, it looked like this at 8:45 in the morning.  It eventually made it past the wheels that you can see on the bottom of that cart.  The worst part is knowing how much grossness must be under this carpet, considering the water comes in and makes the carpet "squishy" on such a regular basis.  I often wonder if there is mold under there that makes me so sniffly every week.  I don't have as many problems when we have a long weekend or vacation.  Just something I'll always wonder, I guess...